Thread: Shelbyville Crappie

Yesterday was a great day for me. I only had one client so all we needed were twenty over and ten under. That two man limit filled a five gallon bucket to the top. We had three big pigs thirteen inch fish and the rest were nice fat fish and all of our unders were just shy of ten and fat.

There are many patterns that are working right now and the shallow bite will take off even better this week. For me I am fishing ledges that have wind blowing into them. Looking for a sharp drop in at least fifteen feet. The big whites are right on the bottom on these drops. My black crappie are coming in the coves more but they are nice fish just not as big as those whites out on the ledges. This is how I fish down at Paris Landing using the Bigheads to feel the deep cover on bottom and walking along the ledges ever so slowly.

Colors as of late are red head jig with either a brown and chartreuse or a black cherry and chartreuse Midsouth tube or a white head with a chartreuse and pearl tube. All three work about the same. Brighter sunny days I am leaning more towards the white and chartreuse combo.

The lake is up a little more than a foot and the color is about right everywhere now. The water temps are about 55-58 and cooler than that on the north end. I am fishing mid lake so those are the water temps I am seeing.

I know what you guys are saying where are the pictures. My granddaughter is staying with us so my wife confiscated the camera for now.

I am guiding every day now until my other job gets straightened out so if you thought you couldn't get in because of me only guiding weekends now is your chance. The trees are in full bloom and weekdays you hardly see a soul. The fishing is red hot and will be for at least a month.

Thanks for the great report Steve . Sounds like the fall bite is coming on strong . I going to try and get out this week sometime . I just got released to drive after having knee replacement surgery 5 weeks ago . Reading the reports that everyone has been posting has helped pass the time . Hope to see everyone on the water real soon .

See ya Kevin ><)))*>

Wow do I ever feel stupid, I was down on Shelbyville on Sat. for the first time in two months, and I fished all over from skull cove to the south to coalshaft to the north and could'nt catch hardly anything. I guess thats why your the guide and I'm just a mailman. Please keep the reports coming maybe I'll learn something for my next trip.
Oh and by the way congrats on the great day.

I read all of steve's articles on his website at least once a year... I pick the ones that apply to the time or year I am fishing, then I come on here and read the reports from the last month to start to match the reports to a lake pattern... Then I match it up with my SI and GPS and go find the fishes... there are a few that have been gracious enough to lend a helping hand my way as I usually get a few messages before I get down to the lake since I have a couple hour drive to get there...

Steve is an excellent fisherman and guide, it was kind of satisfying to pull up to the first spot that I was going to fish last Sunday when I was down and guess who was hovering on it? Steve and his clients! I told my brother, guess we have a good plan... lol

Your exactly right about LSG, I've been honored to get to fish with Steve on 4 or 5 occasions and have learned a lot. My day just was'nt going my way on Sat.
I dont have a gps or si in my boat so I am limited to fishing mainly visible structure or trolling around blind.
I see that Lowrance has now came out with a si unit so maybe that will drop the price down so that somemore weekenders can justify getting one.
Just remember that a bad day fishing is always better then a good day at work.

i justified it because i take my boat out probably at least 50 times a year..... i decided i would pay about 10$ a trip to have gps and si, i only got a 798 and it woks great for me!! and i had a snowmobile layin aroud that i parted out for about the same cost as the si which helped greatly....